SMART Reading

SMART Reading is a children’s literacy nonprofit that serves kids in Oregon’s highest need schools and marginalized communities with two ingredients critical for literacy and learning success: shared reading time and books to keep.

We pair thousands of Oregon kids with community volunteers for regular one-on-one or group read-alouds designed to build confidence, literacy skills, and a love of reading. All of the children we serve also get to choose two books each month to keep. Through the Children’s Book Bank at SMART Reading, volunteers in the Portland area help clean and restore community-donated books that are distributed to thousands more kids to help fill homes and lives with high-interest, inclusive books.

SMART offers a range of volunteer roles including Readers who spend an hour a week reading with students, Site Coordinators who oversee program implementation at one of our sites, Book Bank volunteers who help sort, clean, restore and distribute community-donated books, and more.